Cyclone Yaas, which began its landfall on 26 May morning near Dhamra port in Odisha, has completed the process, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose state is in storm’s path, said that at least 1 crore people have been affected and three lakh houses damaged due to rough weather conditions arising out of the cyclone.
“Cyclone Yaas has complete the process of landfall. Rainfall will continue till tomorrow. Fishermen are advised not to venture till tomorrow morning because the sea condition going to be rough,” said Umashankar Das, senior scientist, Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar.
IMD director general of meteorology, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, said earlier in the day that the cyclone was likely to reach Jharkhand on 27 May morning.
IMD estimates said that Cyclone Yaas would gradually weaken into a severe cyclonic storm in the next three hours, and into a cyclonic storm during the subsequent six hours.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a review meeting with district magistrates, disaster management committee and other officials in West Bengal. Later, addressing the media, she said that Bengal happened to be the “most-affected state”.
Cyclone Yaas, which has intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm, made landfall near Dhamra Port in Bhadrak district around noon.
“I will soon be undertaking an aerial survey of the affected areas in Purba Medinipur, South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas districts,” Mamata Banerjee said.
“We will be conducting field surveys to get a final estimate… It will take us at least 72 hours to get a clearer idea,” she said.
The chief minister further said that as many as 15,04,506 people had been evacuated from the vulnerable areas in the state and moved to safer places.
Cyclone Yaas was packing gusts of up to 140 km/h as it hit land, authorities said. It destroyed tens of thousands of mud houses in Odisha and West Bengal and forced the closure of the busiest regional airport in Kolkata.
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